SILICON VALLEY Playbook
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© 2017 | The official magazine for Published by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in San Francisco Dutch businesses visiting Silicon Valley SILICON VALLEY playbook René Bonvanie of Palo Alto Networks shares his insights for startups coming to Silicon Valley fix your cap table! WHAT INVESTORS Flyr founder Alexander Mans explains how he managed WANTto build a successful business inTO Silicon Valley KNOW Everything you have always wanted to know talk founder about moving to San Francisco to founder Super Evil Megacorp Co-founder Tommy Krul on his adventures as a Dutch Game Coder in Silicon Valley taking the big plunge super evil megacorp Plus: Plus: Plus: Plus: prepare your go build that work hard, read about the journey with a killer pitch play hard: the other side of visual toolbox deck best spots at night silicon valley Foreword You are in charge of 02 your own success! The Inside Silicon Valley Playbook Thank you to the following people was published by the Consulate (without you this magazine could General of the Netherlands in San never have been created!): Silicon Valley is a unique place. The buzz is palpable and infectious. Francisco Competition is relentless. Everyone is working on something big. The Consulate General of the More about Production, design, content and Netherlands in San Francisco : Everywhere you look there are people who can help enrich your interviews by 30X Amsterdam and Gerbert Kunst | Michiel Engelaar | experience. And everyone is willing to share in order to help Startup Delta Business Models Inc. San Francisco Jasper Smit | Alexander Kramer others succeed. For general information about this Investors, founders and experts: publication, please contact us. Ronald Goossens (ASML) | Derk de Korver (Google) | Marloes van Many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have shared their Consulate General of the Schaijk (Osborne Clark) | Alexander experiences and best practices in this Playbook to give you Netherlands in San Francisco Mans (Flyr) | Marco ten Vaanholt http://nlintheusa.com/holland-in- (BootUp) | Tommy Krul (Super a head start and support you on your journey. Grab this the-valley | [email protected] Evil Megacorp) | JP Van Seventer opportunity! You are in charge of your own success. (Dutch Game Garden) | Dennis Thirty X Amsterdam Goedegebuure (Fanatics Inc) | Klaas Creative direction, design, additional Broekhuizen (Correspondent FD) | Go to Silicon Valley to learn, to test, to create. Be content | www.thirty-x.com | Erik Monique van Schaïk (Ebay) | Pieter proactive. Have a plan. Start to develop your network. van der Pluijm | [email protected] | Doevendans (Ava) | Salar al Khafaji @eeevdp (Silk) | Remco van den Elzen | René Know what you are looking for, and realize there is a lot Bonvanie (Palo Alto Networks) | you don’t already know. Business Models Inc San Francisco Wybe Schutte (Newzoo) | www.businessmodelsinc.com Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau | Research, content, interviews (StartupDelta) | Rens de Jong (BNR We would love to bring this spirit back to The | Maaike Doyer | maaike@ & RTLZ) | Arthur van Hoff (JauntVR) businessmodelsinc.com | Justin | Coen Tijhof (Adyen) | Maarten van Netherlands; a spirit of sharing while competing. You, Lokitz | justin@businessmodelsinc. Lieshout (Thirty X) and the entrepreneurs before you, are the bridges between com Photo: www.samsung.com/nl Special thanks to: Silicon Valley and The Netherlands. Copyright ©2017 Consulate General Over 30 Dutch startups that of the Netherlands in San Francisco. participated in our survey, and 50 All rights reserved. Dutch entrepeneurs that contributed during their visit to Silicon Valley! Constantijn van Oranje-Nassau All credits for photography lie with their respective owners, see photo Continue captions. StartupDelta This is your 03 guide book for Silicon Valley. A trip to the valley should be a wild ride. This magazine captures that feeling. We invite you to dive into the deep end, and immerse yourself completely. If you turn this page, brace yourself for the world of tomorrow. This is your guide book. Continue 04 BUCKLE UP! YOU’RE ENTERING SILICON VALLEY#NLinSV Continue INTERVIEW You’ve made the decision to go to 05 Silicon Valley. Awesome! You must “realize this is a big step. You have made the decision to black out a couple of days on your calendar to work on the future of your company instead of focusing on the business of today and the shit of yesterday. ENJOY THE RENS DE JONG ANCHORMAN & KEYNOTE SPEAKER, BNR & RTLZ Continue RIDE.Photo: Jeroen Oerlemans // ENJOY THE RIDE WHERE TO define what DON’T HOLD NOW GO START? you want to BACK VISIT THE 06 >> Now that you’ ve made this learn Getting inspired in Silicon Valley FUTURE! decision, where to start? Every Next, define what you want to is easy. Doing something with this Go to Silicon Valley. Go visit the journey starts with preparation. learn. What are the main high level inspiration once you are back in The future. And after you have had a The first thing is to force yourself questions you want input on? And Netherlands is the difficult part. couple of meetings, rent a bicycle. to read a lot. About everything. Get what are the two to three high Catch some fresh air and allow informed about what is happening level questions you want to ask Make sure you are not going to everything to sink in. Smile, you are in the world, and in Silicon Valley. to get input? Make sure you ask Silicon Valley on your own. Bring in Silicon Valley. these questions to everyone you team members. You have to inspire What is happening in the field of meet, at every level. By doing this and motivate each other to keep You took the first steps to make technology and innovation? What consistently, you will create your on working on the future of your your company future proof. And, by are the business models of the own data set. company, instead of only focusing taking the first steps you’re already future? What are the upcoming on the business of today. halfway there! trends? Not only today’s trends, And be prepared for the but also about trends 20 or 30 unexpected. You don’t know upfront We as Dutchies are incredibly years from now. Read books, read where you will acquire the most good at relativizing, and trying to magazines, read blog posts! Warren valuable insights. Be open to downplay what we see and hear. Buffet blocks two hours every day to discover the things you don’t know Don’t. You are only trying to comfort read. How much time will you spend yet. yourself. To lull yourself to sleep. reading in preparation for your trip? Be open. Step into the big world Once you are in Silicon Valley, you and embrace uncertainty. What makes Sili- Be aware that everyone in Silicon will start to realize Americans are con Valley tick? Valley, really everyone, from really good in thinking global, Only by taking a leap will you move engineer to CEO, is extremely thinking big. yourself and your company forward knowledgeable about almost and learn. everything. It is like everyone got They know how to package their their MBA from a design school. story. Step into this global thinking. This means you can go into depth Put yourself and your company on a much faster compared to what you global scale. What is the impact you are used to in the Netherlands. Be want to make in the world? Before prepared for this. your trip Back to Section last screen color coding Menu Page number 07 PART 1: Learn how to Before prepare for your Your How trip to Silicon Trip Valley Related Cross References Fast tracks Test your ideas to by failing fast PART 2: Find everything During your need to know to im- Your use prove your stay Trip this Chapter Jumps PART 3: Reflect and take After action after you play returned from Your the Valley Trip book 08 SILICON VALLEY FUNDAMENTALS PART 1: Where is Silicon Valley? WHAT MAKES SILICON VALLEY TICK? It’s the Ecosystem, Stupid! Sharing is Caring A BRIEF HISTORY OF SILICON VALLEY As featured on DWDD INTO THE REAL DRAGON’S DEN BEFORE The Investment Ecosystem Interview with Investors What Investors Look For Boost Your Business YOUR Hacks for Better Meetings SILICON VALLEY TOOLKIT Anatomy of a Killer Pitch Deck Silicon Valley is unlike any other Hacks for a Better Pitch place you’ve ever been. Sure, we TRIPmay drive the same cars and use FINAL PREPARATIONS the same interwebz. But, when Packing, Apps & Reading you’re here you’ll start to notice how different it is…how special. DEPARTURE CHECKLIST The next few pages will help you Are You Ready for the Valley? to familiarize yourself with what you’re about to see. DURING YOUR TRIP Take me to the next chapter! So, you’ve decided to make a trip to Silicon Valley to get inspired, pitch your idea, fund your start-up 09 or perhaps even get rich (by doing all of the above). An important first step, no doubt. However, before you simply launch into what you think is Silicon Valley, it’s best to really understand what it is you’re getting into. YOUR PRIME DIRECTIVE: IMMERSE Continue YOURSELFPhoto: Creative Commons / Unsplash.com BERKELEY UNIVERSITY Let's start with some geography. If you didn’t already know it, ALCATRAZ what you’re calling Why is this important to know? OAKLAND Silicon GOLDEN GATE is actually three People who work and live in San Valley 010 distinct areas that are part a large Francisco don’t think of themselves geographic area, called the San as working and living in Silicon Francisco Bay Area – the Bay Area Valley.